Miscellaneous (Including Budget and Bonds)

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Passed

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HB2029

Claims; Frederick Decker, et al. Provides relief to 67 residents of Accomack County and 28 residents of Northampton County who purchased manufactured homes from businesses operated by a manufactured home dealer who failed to remit monies collected from the residents for the purpose of paying the motor vehicle sales and use tax. The dealer's failure to pay the sales and use taxes at the time of the purchases resulted in none of the residents being issued a certificate of title for their homes and prevented Accomack and Northampton Counties from receiving the proceeds from the taxes. The bill authorizes the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a certificate of title to those purchasers who have not previously received reimbursement from either the Manufactured Home Recovery Fund or payment made by Joyce Regina Hart under a restitution requirement established by the Circuit Court of Accomack County. In addition, the bill provides that any additional recoveries through restitution, following payment of court costs, or from other source be directed to the Counties of Accomack and Northampton in proportion to the amount of the motor vehicle sales and use tax to which they were entitled as a result of the sale of the referenced manufactured housing units.
Patron - Bloxom

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HB2289

Claims; Taylor, Harold C. Provides $25,000 in relief to Harold C. Taylor, a retired sheriff. Mr. Taylor was severely injured in 1963 while attempting to apprehend an escaped parolee. The relief is to be provided in five annual installments of $5,000 payable on the first day of July in the years of 2001 through 2005. In addition, any unpaid amount shall revert to the general fund if Mr. Taylor dies before receiving the full amount.
Patron - Barlow

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HB2337

Claims; McCambridge, John. Provides $1,074.26 in relief to John McCambridge to reimburse legal fees paid by Mr. McCambridge to hire his own attorney to represent him during an investigation of the Environmental Protection Agency of the East/West Highway construction project in the Tidewater area. Mr. McCambridge was required to hire an attorney because legal counsel hired by the Virginia Department of Transportation could not provide him with representation because there was no provision in the Code of Virginia that would allow for the Department to provide legal representation to Mr. McCambridge.
Patron - Blevins

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HB2728

Claims; Richard S. Copeland. Directs the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to include Richard S. Copeland, who retired under regular service retirement on August 1, 1999, in the state's health insurance pool as an "involuntarily separated" individual under the provisions of § 2.1-20.1:6. Mr. Copeland initially retired from state employment under disability service retirement on July 1, 1986. His status was reviewed by the VRS two years later and as a result Mr. Copeland was denied the disability service retirement in August 1988. Despite losing the disability service retirement status, due to an administrative error, Mr. Copeland was allowed to continue receiving health insurance benefits until September 1, 1997. When Mr. Copeland retired under regular service retirement he was not allowed to re-enter the state health insurance pool.
Patron - Jones, S.C.

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Failed

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HB1569

Claims; Steve Lawton. Provides $500,000 in relief for Steve Lawton. Mr. Lawton was incarcerated between 1988 and 1997 for a crime which he did not commit. He was pardoned by Governor Allen in 1997 after the alleged victim recanted her testimony.
Patron - Crittenden

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HB1678

Claims; Katherine Miller Taylor. Provides $1,050.00 in relief to Katherine Miller Taylor. The amount represents the legal costs spent by Ms. Taylor to pursue a grievance with Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute based on a determination by the Department of Employee Relations Counselors that the grievance was sufficient to proceed to a hearing.
Patron - Tate

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HB1905

Claims; Ferguson, Lavonia. Provides $1,884.15 in relief to Lavonia Ferguson. Ms. Ferguson was injured in a fall in the Roanoke office of the Virginia Employment Commission. The amount of the relief is to pay expenses Ms. Ferguson incurred for medical treatment of her injuries.
Patron - Thomas

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HB2457

Claims; Porter, Billy R. Provides relief to Billy R. Porter in the amount of a lump sum of $64,978.00 payable on July 1, 2001, and monthly payments of $597.12 beginning on August 1, 2001. Mr. Porter mistakenly submitted an application for regular service retirement rather than disability service retirement and began receiving regular retirement benefits. He realized the mistake in 1996 but his request for disability retirement has not been allowed because the Virginia Retirement Service did not receive it within 90 days of his initial retirement. The lump sum represents the amount of underpayment due to Mr. Porter based on an initial disability retirement date of January 1, 1992 and the monthly payments are the difference between the monthly regular retirement benefits currently received by Mr. Porter and the monthly disability retirement benefit.
Patron - Phillips

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HB2534

Claims; Street, Garland Jay. Provides $4,850 in relief to Garland Jay Street. A State Police helicopter flying over Mr. Street's property startled a horse that he owned, causing it to run into a barbed wire fence and resulting in the loss of a colt that the horse was carrying.
Patron - Phillips

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HB2614

Secretary of Health and Human Resources. Requires the Secretary to provide certain corrected workers' wage or payment information to the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.
Patron - Johnson

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HB2616

Claims; Gunther H. Degan. Provides $41,000 in relief to Gunther H. Degan. Mr. Degan overpaid Virginia income tax on foreign-sourced royalties from 1990 through 1997. He discovered the overpayment error in 1998 and subsequently filed amended returns for tax years 1994 through 1997 that were accepted by the Virginia Department of Taxation. Mr. Degan was unable to file amended returns for tax years 1990 through 1993 because the statute of limitations for filing amended returns for these years had run.
Patron - Purkey

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HB2634

Claims; Mary E. Ferguson. Provides relief to Mary E. Ferguson in the amount of a lump sum equal to the full disability retirement benefit she would have received between July 26, 1994, and July 1, 2001, and to the full amount of the monthly disability benefit after July 1, 2001. Ms. Ferguson's initial application for disability retirement was denied by the Virginia Retirement System, which took the position that Ms. Ferguson had been on leave without pay for a period exceeding 24 months. A hearing officer concluded that Ms. Ferguson was entitled to file for disability but the VRS rejected the finding. Ms. Ferguson decided to appeal the decision pursuant to the Administrative Process Act. She believed that the attorney who represented her at the hearing would handle the appeal. The attorney did not handle the appeal, which was never perfected, resulting in Ms. Ferguson being unable to contest the decision of the VRS to deny the application.
Patron - Christian

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SB1016

Claims; Floyd and Karen Hall. Provides $50,000 in relief to Floyd and Karen Hall (the "Halls"). The Hall's daughter, Ms. Lisa Renee Hall ("Ms. Hall"), took her life in 1995. Ms. Hall spoke with school personnel about her suicidal thoughts. The Halls were never informed of these discussions by school personnel or Ms. Hall. The Halls brought litigation against the local school board but did not prevail in Bedford County. The 1999 Session of the General Assembly passed SB 1250 that requires licensed school personnel, in certain circumstances, to contact a parent of a student whom they believe is at imminent risk of suicide.
Patron - Newman

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SB1091

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SB1104

Claims; Ashton, Walla & Associates, P.C. Provides $20,000 in relief to Ashton, Walla & Associates, P.C. ("Ashton & Walla"). Courts of Stafford County appointed Ashton & Walla as a guardian ad litem of four abused children from 1993 to 1999. The case involved termination of parental rights and custody dispute over the children. In 1997 and again in 1999, Ashton & Walla applied for payment of cost and fees totaling $26,262.74. Of this amount, the court only paid $5,000 and denied the balance. Ashton & Walla did not prevail in litigation against the Commonwealth to collect the balance, and their subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court of Virginia was denied. Section 8.01-9 provides that a guardian ad litem shall not be liable for cost, but may be allowed reasonable compensation and actual costs to be paid by the parents; however, where the parents are unable to pay, § 8.01-9 provides that the Commonwealth shall pay the guardian ad litem. In addition, § 16.1-267 provides limitation on payment of guardians ad litem in certain cases; however, several opinions of the Attorney General of Virginia provide that such limitations do not apply when the case involved custody dispute. In addition, the 1994 General Assembly had requested the Judicial Council of Virginia to adopt, and the Judicial Council of Virginia so adopted, guidelines that would pay the guardians ad litem at a rate of $60 per hour for in-court time and $40 per hour for out-of-court time without a ceiling.
Patron - Colgan

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SB1426

Appropriation
of public revenue. Appropriation of the public revenue for the
two years ending respectively, on the 30th day of June, 2001, and the 30th
day of June, 2002. Patron - Chichester